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Bella Abzug: "WE MUST MOVE FORWARD!"
It was only a few years ago that naturalists made the discovery that female song birds also sang. Not loudly and forcefully, to be sure, but impressive, none the less. Before someone thought to listen, it was assumed that the usually bright-plumaged, loud-mouthed male did all the singing in the song bird family.
Like these song birds, human females, over the ages, were not listened to. Since they were not heard over the loud, confident assertions of the male, our culture relegated them to a lower place in life than man. They existed as his possessions, as somewhat useful but mindless objects.
Around the turn of the Century, Woman began to make her voice heard. Few listened as most tried to drown her out. Despite this, a massive energy that had been so cruelly repressed erupted and the Women's Liberation Movement was born.
Bella
Abzug (1920 - 1998) was one of the giants of this movement.
How desperately we will miss her.
Bella broke the mold. No shrinking violet, her. She was big and she was powerful. She was strong and she was intelligent. Eschewing the male established definition of woman, she wrote and lived her definition of herself.
It is said that her hats were her trademark. She used them as props to get herself noticed. Her voice, described by some as "gravely" was pitched loud so she would be heard.
"This woman's place is in the House," she declared, and became the first Jewish woman in Congress.
Any of us that lived in those times know how often we as women were trivialized, ignored and shut out of debates -- even debates that concerned us. Bella would not let herself be shut out and she empowered us to follow her example.
She was a leader, a role model and a friend to women -- a real friend. Emphatically not a woman who would lindatripp up a friend for the proverbially 15 minutes of fame.
She inspired us and encouraged us. If our flame was beaten down by the forces against us, we could always ignite it again from her conflagrations of pride and her trenchant confidence that all women mattered.
She laid it squarely on the line.
"We don't so much want to see a female Einstein become an assistant professor. We want a woman schlemiel to get promoted as quickly as a male schlemiel."
Prior to going into politics, she was a labor and civil rights lawyer and peace activist. Naturally, the conservatives feared and detested her. She described herself as having, "a decent sense of outrage."
She led us by example, by showing us what was possible and by encouraging even our feeblest efforts. She recognized that our struggle for equality was not yet won. Agreeing that we "will not go back," she asserted, "We must go forward."
She never sat in an ivory tower of wealth and privilege hurling poisoned darts at our movement like the media darlings, sommerspagliawolff et al., do today.
She broadcasted women's frustrations and experiences to the world, exposing our culture's use of gender-related adjectives to control and demean us: "if I'd had been a man, I would be called courageous instead of abrasive, forceful instead of strident."
A passionate fighter for our liberation, she was truly A SELF-DEFINED WOMAN; a great American hero who gave us the strength and the will to define ourselves.
1998-014
Copyright 1998 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: TWANDA@ConnRiver.net.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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